UCF officials say Knights don't expect to join Big East early

UCF is one of four Conference USA schools scheduled to join the Big East in all sports in 2013

February 9, 2012|By Iliana Limón, Orlando Sentinel

UCF officials told the Orlando Sentinel they don't expect the school to jump to the Big East a year early.

Conference USA members UCF, Houston, Memphis and SMU are scheduled to join the Big East in all sports on July 1, 2013. Mountain West Conference members Boise State and San Diego State also are slated to join the Big East only in football in 2013. And independent Navy will be moving to the Big East in football only in 2015.

However, CBSSports.com is reporting the Big East and West Virginia are close to a settlement that would allow the Mountaineers to leave the Big East and join the Big 12 Conference for the 2012 season. It would fill a big void on the Big 12 schedule and resolve its television contract obligations, but it would cause a major headache for Big East schools. West Virginia and the Big East now reportedly are searching for new Big East members willing to join the league early.

UCF spokesman Grant Heston said the school had not been contacted about joining the Big East in 2012. Retired Admiral Al Harms, UCF's interim athletic director, said he expected the Knights to join the Big East in 2013 as planned.

Big East Commissioner John Marinatto declined to discuss the timeline for resolving West Virginia's exit timeline, adding any new members ahead of schedule and potentially helping any new members joining the Big East early pay additional exit penalties.

"The question is related to the impending litigation we're involved in on two fronts," Marinatto said during the Big East's teleconference introducing Memphis as a new member Wednesday. "It would be inappropriate for me to get into specifics about all of that at this point."

Boise State has emerged as the most likely candidate to make the early jump to the Big East, according to CBSSports.com, but the Broncos are not publicly embracing the move.

Boise State President Bob Kustra told the Idaho Statesman it was too late for the Broncos to join the Big East in football only for the 2012 season. The Broncos will be moving their non-football sports to the Western Athletic Conference in 2013. It is unclear whether the WAC could add those sports a year ahead of schedule.

"I can't imagine how anyone can pull that off," Kustra told the Statesman. "We would never want to pull it off in a fashion that dealt shabbily with our existing partners in the Mountain West. I don't think that could ever work."

UCF President John Hitt, who is not in Orlando this week, previously expressed similar concerns to the Orlando Sentinel. When he was asked in November and December whether UCF would push to leave Conference USA to join the Big East in 2012, he insisted the Knights would not take any action that would put Conference USA in a negative position and scrambling to fill UCF's spot in the league.

If the Big East cannot find a school ready to replace West Virginia, the Newark Star-Ledger reported current Big East members could play each other twice next season. The newspaper stated Rutgers and Syracuse had discussed potentially playing each other twice in 2012. The second game would not count toward the Big East standings.

Four Big East schools — Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Rutgers and Syracuse — also have one open game on their nonconference schedules.

An unprecedented number of schools have struggled to resolve nonconference schedules because conference realignment has reshuffled college football schedules typically planned years in advance. UCF scrambled to fill its final 2012 nonconference game before reaching an agreement this month to host new Southeastern Conference member Missouri in Bright House Networks Stadium.